March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide v11

After a missed tournament in 2020, March Madness is on the way, and it remains one of the most wonderful times of the year for sports fans that love drama, action, effort, upsets, and champions!

But every year, partners of those fans that get excited and watch hours and hours of college basketball experience what we call March Madness Widow Syndrome. MMWS is the feeling of neglect, being ignored, bored, etc. while your significant other dives deep into the tournament. It can be an intense situation, especially during rounds one and two, with multiple games per day, and at times, more than one game being played at the same time.

And because we know that it ain’t fun to the partner that isn’t watching and it’s getting any attention or care, we’ve tried over the last 11 years to come up with ideas to help anyone dealing with March Madness Widow Syndrome.

First, prepare yourself with these dates so you know when your S/O is likely to be fully engaged in the tourney.

🏀 Selection Sunday – Sunday, March 14, 2021
🏀 First Four – Thursday, March 18, 2021
🏀 NCAA Tournament Round 1 – Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20, 2021
🏀 NCAA Tournament Round 2 – Sunday, March 21, and Monday, March 22, 2021
🏀 Sweet 16 – Saturday, March 27, and Sunday, March 28, 2021
🏀 Elite 8 – Monday, March 29, and Tuesday, March 30, 2021
🏀 Final Four – Saturday, April 3, 2021
🏀 2021 NCAA Championship Game – Monday, April 5, 2021

And now, check out our list of five suggestions that all music lovers whose partner is elbow deep in their bracket can dive into for relief.

1) Listen to Your Favourite Albums Front to Back

We love playlists and variety and being able to bounce from artist to artist at a moment’s notice – BUT there’s still something super fantastic about putting a great album on and listening to it from front to back. When the games tip-off and your partner settles in, it’s your time to get comfortable and hit play.

We suggest picking one or two albums per day/night and letting them play all the way through from start to finish. And if you really love it – hit play again.

If you’re having trouble choosing an album, here are four that I highly recommend. Enjoy!

(Fleetwood Mac: Rumors, Eagles: Hotel California, Taylor Swift: folklore, Our Lady Peace: Clumsy)

2) Create Playlists with Friends

If you’re looking for new music or you want to share some music you love with your friends, start a new playlist and ask for their help!

It’s as easy as starting a new playlist on Spotify or in a Facebook status or Instagram post (just go ahead and list some songs) and ask for the people in your circle to suggest songs you should add. You can be specific (what were some of your favourite country songs from the 90s? or what new music as come out in 2021 that you love?) or you can be super general – it doesn’t matter. Just give it a shot and enjoy the results.

3) Discover Podcasts by Musicians / About Music

If you love putting on a podcast and listening to folks talk about true crime or basketball or politics or what have you, let us recommend that you add some music podcasts to your rotation. Whether you want a critics perspective or an artist’s outlook, the options are out there, and they are nearly endless.

To get you started though, here are five recommendations. Find these pods or other music-based online stories, and enjoy the conversations!

♦ 60 Songs that Explain the ’90s

♦ Walking The Floor with Chris Shiflett

♦ Black Girl Songbook

♦ Every Single Album: Taylor Swift

♦ The Road Case

4) Binge Live Music Performance Videos

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Here are the four easy steps.

Step 1: Open YouTube.
Step 2: Search “(favourite artist name) Live”.
Step 3: Watch live performance videos and try to get a hit of the feeling of being at live shows.
Step 4: Repeat with a new artist.

Enjoy!

5) Play Along

I’ve said it every year in the past and I’ll say it every year in the future: Play Along!

Even if you don’t plan on watching nearly half as much basketball as your partner, you can fill out a bracket, cheer with them (or against them, which is fun) and try to enjoy the atmosphere that comes with the NCAA tournament. Pick your teams based on rankings, school, state, city, mascot, colours, player names, anything you want. Just go for it and try to have a little bit of a good time too!

Learn more and fill out your 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament March Madness Bracket at espn.com!

And if you need more ideas, have a look back at the first 10 years of March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guides!

2010 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide

2011 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 2.0

2012 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 3.0

2013 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 4.0

2014 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 5.0

2015 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 6.0

2016 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 7.0

2017 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 8.0

2018 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide  9.0

2019 🏀 The March Madness Widow(er) Survival Guide 10!

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.